Peru consumer prices fall in April as flood effect recedes

Redacción de Reuters

2 MIN. DE LECTURA

LIMA, May 1 (Reuters) - The consumer price
index for Lima fell 0.26 percent in April - the
first negative reading since November 2014 - as food supply
recovered from the impact of floods earlier this year, the state
statistics agency said on Monday.
The official reading for the index in Lima, which the
central bank uses to guide monetary policy, was below a
forecast rise of 0.1 percent in a Reuters poll.
The annual inflation rate fell to 3.69 percent from 3.97
percent, and the price index has risen 1.61 percent so far this
year, state statistics agency Inei said.
The central bank's inflation target range is between 1
percent and 3 percent.
April's reading follows an unusually high price spike in
March that was driven by the local El Nino phenomenon that
emerged off Peru's coast this year, unleashing rains that
destroyed and blocked roads and flooded croplands.
April March April 2016
Monthly rate -0.26 +1.30 +0.36
12-month rate +3.69 +3.97 +3.91
(Reporting by Ursula Scollo; Writing by Rosalba O'Brien;
Editing by Peter Cooney)